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The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand Paperback – September 1, 1987

by Douglas J. Den Uyl (Editor),‎ Douglas B. Rasmussen (Editor)

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The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand

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Editorial Reviews

Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: University of Illinois Press (September 1, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0252014073
ISBN-13: 978-0252014079
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 8 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,850,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4407 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Modern

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JoeCobb

Ayn Rand Can be Taken Seriously by Philosophers

February 26, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a superb collection of essays and analysis. I particularly like Wheeler's discussion of Aristotle and Ayn Rand on how similar her system was to the classical - and she never even realized it, not herself apparently having read any Aristotle beyond perhaps a summary by some popular writer.

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Jean-Francois Virey

A very mixed collection of essays

July 31, 2000

Format: Paperback

*The Philosophical Thought of Ayn Rand* is a collection of ten essays on Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, more or less hierarchically organized into three parts: Metaphysics and Epistemology, Ethics and Politics.
The essays included fall into two very distinct categories: those written by independent Ayn Rand scholars, like Den Uyl, Rasmussen, Machan or Mack, who show a real familiarity with Rand's published works (or, to be more precise, those works published prior to the publication of the book in 1984); and essays written by generally unsympathetic philosophers who merely took the trouble of reading a few Objectivist essays before refuting what are mostly misunderstandings of Rand's statements or arguments.
One example is Anthony Flew, whose pompously titled essay "Selfishness and the Unintended Consequences of Intended Action" combines a very cogent defense of the free market with a completely inept treatment of Rand's rational egoism. Flew takes the following statement from *The Fountainhead*: "No man can live for another... It is impossible in concept"; interprets it as meaning that no action can be unselfish and self-sacrificing; easily refutes the latter; and then blames Rand for her "false conclusion", her "lapse" and the "mess" she got herself into. Unfortunately for him, Rand was not saying that it is impossible ever to *act* in a self-sacrificial way, but that it was impossible consistently to *live* for another, which is totally different, and which I do not think Flew would be able to refute. As for his comment that "Rand is... mistaking it that all human relationships are or should be trading transactions", I surmise it is based on too literal an interpretation of the "trader principle", which is the Objectivist alternative to predatory egoism and altruism. Finally, the refutation of the Objectivist principle that there is no conflict of interest among rational men is based on an unjustified reading of "interest" as synonymous with "desire".
But the nadir of this collection is probably Wallace Matson's "Rand on Concepts" which claims to reformulate the Objectivist theory of concept-formation in a way that "preserves what is of value in Rand's treatment" and then proceeds to get rid of concepts altogether, claiming they are a dispensable "mysterious and subjective... third entity between word and thing"!
Of the ten essays included here, I would say that the five written by the better-informed Ayn Rand scholars are worth reading and often contain interesting observations and criticisms (though none that are so earth-shattering as to really threaten the structure of Objectivism), while the other five, when they are not off-topic, are generally lame.

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Reader From Aurora

Modest Collection of Essays

April 9, 2010

Format: Paperback

Published in 1984 `The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand' edited by Uyl and Rasmussen is a collection of essays discussing the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Rand is a well known twentieth century American novelist and political commentator. The following thoughts are offered for potential purchasers.

The text is divided into three sections,; metaphysics and epistemology, ethics and politics. Each section has an introductory essay by the editors. With only two contributions the segment discussing metaphysics and epistemology is the shortest and least interesting part of the book. While there is a rich philosophical tradition in these areas , Rand appears to have a limited interest in these subjects aside from the role they play in underwriting her ethical and political views. Consequently, there is not a lot of source material to use. Rand seems to advocate naïve/common sense realism, positing the existence of an agent-independent world and our ability to access and understand it via our senses and cognitive abilities. While helpful in highlighting some of Rand Aristotelian views the essays in this section are rather weak.

Rand's writings in the areas of ethics and politics are much more extensive and, as a consequence the related essays are accordingly more interesting. Hollinger's essay discussing Rand's connection to Aristotle and the virtue ethics tradition is well written and insightful. The notion of human flourishing evident in the virtue tradition is helpful in understanding Rand's view of value. From my perspective, the best essay in the collection is from Charles King, Many readers approaching Rand for the first type find her work difficult as a result of her emotive language and rather esoteric use of terminology. King is helpful in clarify Rand's terminology and identifying her underlying contentions. Flew's essay on Rand's politics is also worth a look, in particular, his thoughts with regard to strengthening her argument for capitalism are interesting.

Despite its limitations I enjoyed the book - Rand's work has been largely overlooked by the philosophical world and this small anthology provides some rare and critical insight into her thought. That said, it is a modest collection of essays from minor philosophers (with the exception of Flew). I would, however, not want to sound overly critical of the contributors. While Rand is a colorful character with some interesting thoughts she is a `philosopher' only in the broadest sense of the term. As noted by several of the commentators, Rand seems to have limited awareness and interest in the broader philosophical world - this is unfortunate as it limits her effectiveness. Rand is an accomplished writer of romantic fiction and many of her ideas (for good or bad) are not presented in a clear and systematic way that lends itself to easy analysis.

Overall, the text is largely a period piece and is likely of interest to a limited audience.

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A customer

There are some cogent critiques in this volume.

September 10, 1999

Format: Paperback

The full title of this book should have been: What Some People Who Were Genuinely PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHT OF AYN RAND.
And some of them didn't think much of her at all. Jack Wheeler, for example, tries to be nice but argues that she didn't really understand Aristotle very well. And Antony Flew, who has said elsewhere that he thinks her contribution to philosophy was 'zilch', makes mincemeat of her understanding of 'selfishness'.
The essays in here aren't all negative (nor should they be; Rand wasn't *completely* batty). And they *are* all thoughtfully and carefully written. But Rand's 'philosophy' won't withstand fifteen minutes of careful scrutiny by anyone who knows anything about the field from any non-'Objectivist' source.
If, as it appears, Rand is going to get some academic attention after all, then this volume should be kept handy. At least SOME of the attention should be negative.

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Most recent customer reviews

A book for critical thinkers

This book, despite its occasional faults and shortcomings, nevertheless represented, at the time of its publication, a considerable leap forward in Randian criticism.Read more

Published on February 15, 2001 by Greg Nyquist

Still Valuable Collection of Essays

This collection of essays came out in 1984 and is a little bit dated in light of more recent work on Rand.Read more

Published on June 2, 2000 by Steve Jackson

Range of opinion

This is an excellent compendium of articles on Rand by a range of philosophers. The close reader of Rand will note how Wheeler and Flew display the academic mindset of...Read more

Published on December 27, 1999 by Michael "MG" Gilson

Useful commentary on Rand's philosophy

This is the first book that examined Rand's philosophy from an academic perspective, and it has proven to be one of the most useful secondary sources on the philosophy.Read more

Published on November 30, 1998

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